Cat hip replacement??

[indiesearcher]

So shocked I could cry!

Cat came in limping a week ago.

Vet prescribed painkillers and an x ray today if no improvement.

Here we are with a fracture and a recommendation for hip replacement.

I've been paying £25 per month insurance for a 'premier policy' only to find there's w cap of £1000. This surgery and x rays will come to more than £7k.

Has anyone been through this?

Any advice?

I'm distraught for our lovely cat and my bank balance.

Anybody? Need to take him for his consultation in the morning.

I'm sorry to hear about your poor kitty.

I'd maybe get a second opinion but the thing is it wouldn't have a chance to heal because the cats don't know to keep still so it probably would be the best solution. I should think the vet would offer a payment plan or see if you can get a loan or 0% credit card to pay the difference.

Ask about a femoral head ostectomy. Might not apply depending on the type of fracture but hip replacement is not going to be the only solution to this problem. Cats are light and have amazing healing powers. Think about the number of cats that sustain fractures. In the world. How many of them do you think receive hip replacements?

Thanks @villainousbroodmare - I've called the specialist again this evening and they've suggested I call the local vet in the morning about either amputation or the femeral osectomy surgery instead and that it might be a lot cheaper.

I think If it was my cat, I'd go for amputation. I'm not sure I'd want to put them through a hip replacement even if the insurance would pay. I would think they would need to be be on cage rest for a long time. They'd get back to normal quicker as a tripod.

I look after kids post femoral osteotomy and it's big surgery!

Okay so if it were between FHO or amputation (rear left), healthy 2yo boy, which would give him the best quality of life??

I've seen cats do really well after femoral osteotomy - I'd sooner go for that than a replacement. We used to joke that cats had 3 legs and a spare because they can recover so well from amputation too.

I'd be annoyed that the vet only presented the ££££ option to you.

Referred us straight to a v expensive specialist an hour away.

I am a bit confused

I'd also warn anyone with a More Than pet policy to check their pay out limits very carefully.

Cats do very very well post femoral head osteotomy
It's only the last ten years or so that cat hip replacement became a common thing. Prior to that any cat needing surgery would just have femoral head removed
They are so light that they form a false joint easily and do really well
You ought to be able to find a local vet able to do the surgery for you rather than an expensive referral
If not try googling as you might find a referral vets that do some fixed price surgery options , if you don't mind travel
I recently did this for a client with another kind of surgery and the cost went from £7k to £2k

Quick google for reference
No idea where they are or you are but you get the idea !

oakhillvetgroup.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/FHNE-Pre-Op-Web.pdf

Also, his leg looks completely different to how it did when I dropped him in for his x ray this morning. His leg and foot look more splayed out and less functional than it was this morning (I actually dropped him I thinking it had improved over the last week). Is this an effect of the sedative/x rat procedure?

@Cecillie yes I saw that one on Google too - my uncle is up there, I could pay a visit!

Any further thoughts on FHO and salvaging leg vs amputation very welcome.

Thanks everyone you've calmed me right down.

There's really no choice between amputation and fho
Cost is about the same
Recovery and pain about the same
Difference is that your cat will still have a fully functioning leg in a weeks time

I don't mean this to be derogatory to your vet , but sometimes, younger vets only think of the gold standard options and skip the good old fashioned things that are affordable and work. Disclaimer , may not be the case, not bashing any particular vet !

For what it's worth , in a young cat that's not grossly overweight, if it was my cat and money was no option, would actually choose fho over replacement
Smaller op , v little chance complication and faster recovery

Definitely shop around, vets will recommend the 'Gold Standard' treatment of course, but there are other vets who'll take a look for you.

He's young, I'd try to save the leg if you can. He will need to be rested in a crate after the surgery but they tend to do pretty well.

Obviously there can be complications from the surgery (both femoral head and amputation)

Whereabouts are you? I know a great vet :)

Thanks @SkyeSkye we are SW/Surrey ish but willing to travel

Hi, I unfortunately have experience with both total hip replacement and FHO surgery. Plus a luxated patella (flipped knee) which was caused by the hip replacement.

Our 2 year old maine coon started limping and my instant worry was hips, unfortunately I was right. The hip that was fractured couldn't have the FHO because of the shape of his femur. Which meant a referral to a vet in England (i live on an island, no vet here could do this surgery)

At some point in the 1st week of surgery, his knee flipped and he couldn't walk on it at all. Which caused more pressure on the other hip and caused a fracture on the 'good' hip. He was able to have FHO on that one and his recovery was amazing, especially considering he still couldn't use the other leg as we were awaiting the luxated patella surgery.

If they don't have a reason for the hip replacement (like my boy and his oddly shaped femur), I would go for FHO for sure.

If you don't mind me asking, which specialist vet have they referred you to? You can request a different one, just saying this as although the cost was still high for the one we used, it wasn't 7, more around 5.

FFS, I just wrote a reply to you and it didn't post. Probably a good job cause it was v long.

Basically, a pov from amputation side. My cat Ghostie broke her tibia when she was around 18 months old. The first vet who was horrible told me she would have to be caged for at least six weeks, not be allowed to move much and would have it in plaster. I spoke to the rescue centre that she came from, they advised to ask about amputation as it is unfair to expect such a young cat to remain caged for a long period. The vet told me I was appalling for thinking that way.

I got a second and third opinion from other vet surgeries who both said amputation was best, but we could try a bandage cast and see if it moved at all. Despite my best efforts to keep her caged and still, the bones moved so her back left leg was amputated. Within days, she was back to having zoomies around the house. She had a couple of wobbles, but that was it.

It's several years on now and she is fine. She does love being scratched behind her left ear though as she obviously can't reach it. It's quite odd cause her little stump moves in time with the scratches.

I couldn't believe how quickly and how well she adapted, and healed

Thank you @Athenajm80 and to everyone who has listed, it's really warning to hear your stories of recovered cats.

Definitely going to speak to our vet and possibly another tomorrow about both options.

Ours had a femoral head ostectomy of her rear left leg after being hit by a car as a very young cat - she is now 18.5 and still climbing / jumping up on the beds and sofa. She had quite a bit of cage rest after but the muscles all knitted round the missing area and you honestly wouldn't know anything was wrong. (Also, she had to have all the ligaments in the other back leg remade a few years ago after destroying them - argh.)

@indiesearcher did you get a 2nd opinion on your cat? Just wondered how he was doing and what you decided.

Thanks for checking in @OrSomeSortOfWokAtTheVeryLeast

He is definitely in need of the surgery - it's getting better not worse, poor thing.

A very kind surgery affiliated to ours has agreed to cap the surgery at £1500 so I'm going with the FHO and he's having it a week today.

Minded to try to cage rest him until then - I think he'll hate it and not sure how it works exactly, any thoughts?

A decent size cage that can have 3 definitive areas in it, tray, bed and food/water. We had a massive dog one for our boy. If you let him out, only do it when you can watch him, no jumping ect.

He probably won't be too pleased unfortunately. I found a blanket over the cage made mine more comfortable as it was more box/cave like.

He will be ok. My boy has been in one every night since May (the 3 surgeries overlapped). We finally took it down last night as he is 8 weeks post last op.

Fingers crossed for a quick and easy recovery. Please let us know how he gets on if you remember 💐